The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop Any value in a 4spd Granny trans?

I pulled the 4spd granny gear box out of my '62, and replaced it with a later 4spd overdrive manual.
I will NEVER put this trans back in the truck.
It needs new synchros, but was otherwise fine.
My question is, are these transmissions worth anything more than scrap value? I have an entire shop full of parts that are too good to throw away, but not good enough to keep, so the fact that I'm considering hauling this to the scrap yard for a few bucks says volumes.
Worth the hassle of advertising and fielding phone calls, or just throw it in with the next load?

-Brad

Call any 4X4 shop and ask around. The rock crawlers love those SM420's because of the granny low.

I completly redid my 55 2 nd series. I too had a shed full of original stock parts.All in good condition.Front and rear suspension,all of the original steering components,etc.I gave them to a guy who was gonna redo his old truck,made him very happy, and made me happy cause I needed the extra room,and they were junk to me.

Put an ad in the swap meet section of this websight listing all your parts. There may be a fellow bolter that can use something. There is a freeby section also. Even if it had no value it,s nice to help each other out.

O.K., maybe my opinion is very biased, but I personally believe that an SM420 combined with a GearVendors O.D. makes the best transmission for a our vintage 1/2, 3/4 or 1 ton trucks. It really is the best of both worlds for those who want to use their truck as a truck as well as driving on the freeway. The SM420 is was heavy duty enough for the 2 ton trucks and the gear vendors unit is even stronger. With the O.D., you can overdrive 2nd 3rd and 4th, effectively splitting the gears. It's like having a 7 speed. You also get to keep your granny gear and low geared rear end for hauling and/or more responsive city driving. The better gas mileage with lower RPMs on the freeway doesn't hurt either. It also helps reduce noise and increases the life of your engine/parts. The stuff all bolts together and on to our old engines, you just have to get the driveline shortened.
Regardless, I agree with Wrenchbender, if your giving it away or selling it cheap, please help out a brother bolter.

I'll give up my SM420 when someone pries my cold dead hands off that shifter. The thing is a brute in production for over 20 years and was used in big trucks and busses. Combine your bulletproof 235 with a 3.55 R&P and you've got a VERY drivable combination as long as you're not interested in blasting down the expressway.

Not everyone wants/needs expressway speeds and for guys like me it's a great box.

If you don't want it, find it a good home. It's far from junk.

Yeah but Matt, have your priced that OD lately???? I'd need to take out a second mortgage to buy one of them.
As fur as the value of the SM420 I've been givin a couple of them and was just offered another when the guy switches out his. Shipping would cost as much as the trans is worth so I think your kind of limited to someone in your local area. I know I wouldn't scrap it.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

I don't know what they are worth, I get the impression the rock crawler crowd prefers the SM465 these days because they are tougher.

I've been given a couple of them over the years and at this point have given a couple of them to another bolter. While I don't want to be stupid about the value of stuff most these things cost me very little and I'd rather get them into the hands of someone who will see them used rather than worry about a few bucks.

I have at least three and maybe five of them today, so I don't feel they are in short supply.

Of course I have Denny, I bought one! It's go big or go home in my book. It was a couple years ago, but I would do it again because the combination can't be beat. Buying nice things for my truck is one of the reasons I have 2 jobs!

bigmacdaddy,

Is there a model number for that GearVendors unit? If you do not mind posting it, what was the price of your unit?

Thanks,
Tim

I found it. Part #3D0420C 0.78 overdrive

It was about $200 less when I bought mine.

Well up here in seattle, the very good condition SM465 does not fetch $75. I have one on craigs list. Just lowered the price to $50.00. I refuse to pay someone to take it away because next stop will be an anchor for my buoy.

Guess I'm just on the wrong end of the receiving line Matt. After spending about an hour looking through their site, I still can't find a real price for the OD at Gear Vendors, only a price range. Starting at a low of $2,795 and running up to $4,995 that's a tad to rich for my blood. On top of that it looks like there would have to be some extensive modification to my 1950, 3/4 ton drive line. Don't know how you would approach cutting the front torque tube and splined drive shaft down to fit but I do know your looking at a lot of work to get that right.
All in all, an overdrive unit from GV looks to me to be out of reach for most everyone except the upper crust where price would not be an object.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

The model for the SM420 is now $3200. Having the open driveline shortened/balanced/repainted was $200. I wouldn't consider myself uppercrust though - just a hard working beer plumber! I don't mind spending a bit of $ on the truck now and then, especially since the truck came free. I would also much rather spend 3.2k and having the truck drive the way I want as opposed to spending $500 - 2k, way too much time looking and scavenging, to end up getting something mediocre, that might not work, and with no warranty.

If it helps any Brad I sold the one out of my truck a few years back for $100 to a fella somewhere up in north GA.

Thanks Bruce.
I'd do cartwheels if someone gave me a Franklin for it.
I've got it listed in Craigslist for $50, and haven't gotten a call on it.

There's a 4x4 shop in town--I'll see if they're interested.
I've seen a couple at my monthly swap meet, but always for sale, never sold.

-Brad

Like I said, Matt that's a bit out of my range so I’m not gonna call for a quote but that's about where I figured the OD unit would run. Not trying to be a smart [censored] but ya gotta admit that’s a bit much for the average Joe. Your application is in a '62 with an open drive shaft, that makes for a lot easier installation, all that’s required is to cut the drive shaft down. With a closed driveline like the 1/2 and 3/4 ton AD’s it becomes a bunch more complicated. Add the ball setup to the back of the OD and I’ll bet it bumps it up over the 4k hurdle. And for the average guy who isn’t lucky enough to have a machine shop at his disposal modifying the driveline has to be up around the thousand dollar mark at least.
Luckily there are gears available for the 1/2 ton fans but us 3600 and above guys are stuck with out any other option than the OD or changing the complete rear axle.
When your talking about this kind of money one would think that one of the gear grinders would wake up and make a batch of 3.xxx gear sets to fit the 3/4 ton AD trucks. I’ve tried contacting all of them and they won’t even return the emails. There must be literally thousands of 3/4 ton owners out here that would be more than willing to pay $600 or $800 for a three something gear set. At least we could run at a comfortable 55mph and quit holding up traffic on the secondary roads.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL